Cover-feeding mechanism



W. H. DIEZEL COVER-FEEDING MECHANISM Oct. 10, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 11, 1949 fru lrvzor- Will 11 .Dieze[ I Hiiforrz W Oct. 10, 1950 w. H. DIEZEL.

CUVER-FEEDING MECHANISM 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed may 11g, 1949 Will 11.062266 Patented oct. 10, 1950 COVER-FEEDING MECHANISM Willy H. Diezel, Fairfield, Conn., assignor to The Max Ams Machine Company,

Bridgeport,

Conn., a corporation of New York Application May 11, 1949, Serial No. 92,624

1 Claim. (01. 1129114) This invention relates to cover-feeding meCh-""; Of the seaming station, lifts cover 22 from supanisms for seaming machines, and has for its =porting ledge 2| and brings the assemblage into main object the production of self-contained cov er-feeding means that can be readily attached to an already existing type of machine (for use at neighborhood centers rather than in canning factories) lacking such means.

In the accompanying drawings, the invention is disclosed in a concrete and preferred form, in which:

Fig. l is a top plan viewof the cover-feeding mechanism;

Fig. 2 is a view in front elevatiompartly broken away and in section, looking in the direction of arrow 2 of Fig. 1; i

Fig, 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but with some of the parts removed;

Fig. 4 is a perspective diagrammatic view of the cover-separating knives, the cover-feeding slide, and associated elements;

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view, substantially on the plane of line 5-5 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view, substantially on the plane of line 6-6 of Fig. 1, showing the cover-feeding slide engaging a separated cover; and

Figs, 7, 8, 9 and 10 are diagrammatic views, showing different steps in the operation of separating and feeding the covers.

In automatic seaming. machines, cans and covers are fed automatically to a seaming station, and successive seaming cycles of the machine occur at regular intervals. There is another type of machine, generally referred to as semi-automatic, in which the cans and covers are not fed automatically, and in which successive seaming cycles occur at irregular intervals at the will of the operator. That is to say: the operator, after placing a can and a cover in the machine, steps on a treadle or moves a handle, thereby elevating the can and cover into the plane of the seaming tools and at the same time initiating a single seaming cycle which, when completed, does not repeat itself and only begins again at the will of the operator when he again steps on the treadle. The problem this invention seeks to solve is to so construct an automatic cover-feeding mechanism as to make it operative in connection with a seaming machine having irregularly occurring seaming cycles at arbitrary intervals; It will be apparent that, to free the operator from the necessity of handling a cover each time a seaming operation is to be performed, will tend to shorten the interval between irregularly occurring seaming operations.

The seeaming station of the machine is indicated at 20, and 2! is a cover-receiving or supportingledge to support a cover 22. 23 is the usual pedestal for supporting acan 24 which, when elevated by the pedestal, rises through opening 25 theplane of the seaming tools of seaming machine 26 in a well-known manner. 27 indicates the cover supply station, having the usual four posts 28 to contain a stack of covers 21 29 indicates a raceway over which a cover 22 separated from stack 21 is carried to supporting ledge 2| of the seaming station. 30 is a reciprocatory coverfeeding slide, moving in guides 3|, and operated continuously by any suitable means such as rotating gear 32 having a crank 33 connected by links 34 and 35 to rockshaft 3B, which latter is connected by links 3'! and 38 to cover-feeding slide 30. 39 and 40 indicate a pair of oppositely arranged cover-separating knives. One of these, 39, is carried by a rocker lever 4 I, mounted to rock on pivot 42. 43 indicates a second rocker lever on which cover-separating knife 40 is carried, said rocker lever 43 being longer than rocker lever 4i and being mounted to rock on pivot 44. 45 indicates an actuator-link, pivotally connected at 46 and 4'! to rocker levers 4| and 43. Carried by cover-feeding slide 30 is a cam 48 to be engaged by a cam roller 49, mounted on actuator-link 45. A spring anchored on pin 5| of the framework. and connected to actuator-link 45 at 46 urges cam roller 49 into engagement with cam 48 of cover-feeding slide 30. 52 is a detector-finger carried by rocker lever 43 adjacent cover-receiving ledge 2i of the seaming station, and it will be observed that the pull of spring 50 will tend to cause said detector-finger 52 to overlie coverreceiving ledge 21 if no cover is present on said cover-receiving ledge. Also that, if a cover is present on cover-receiving ledge 2 I, said detectorfinger will move outwardly and thereby tend to ment with low portion 48 of cam 48, that no cover is present on cover-receiving ledge 2i of the seaming station, and that spring 50 is exerting its force unopposed by detector-finger 52, thereby causing cover-separating knives 39 and 40 to disengage the stack of covers so that said stack is lowered to rest on raceway 29. As cover-feeding slide 33 advances from the position shown in Fig. 7 to that shown in Fig. 8, it will be seen that cam roller 49 has traveled up the incline of cam 48, to high portion 48 and has thereby exerted sufficient pressure on actuator-link 45 to cause cover-separating knives 39 and 4B to enter the stack of covers above the lowermost one, thereby elevating the remainder of the stack and releasing the lowermost cover. This occurs before cover-feeding slide 39 engages the lowermost cover. This action of cam roller 49 and cam 48 will also have withdrawn detector-finger 52 very slightly from its projection over cover-receiving ledge 2i. Cover-feeding slide 30 continues its motion engaging the lowermost and separated cover 22, and will move the same over raceway 29 and onto cover-receiving ledge 2! at the seaming station, as shown in Fig. 9. The presence of the cover on cover-receiving ledge 2| moves detector-finger outwardly, and this motion is transmitted through rocker levers M and 93, and actuator-link it, to cause cover-separating knives 39 and 2-9 to still more deeply enter the stack of covers, as indicated in Fig. 9, and also to cause cam roller 39 on actuator-link to be lifted out of the plane of cam Cover-separating knives 259 and ie continue to hold the stack of covers elevated while cover-feeding slide 2-0 returns to a position where it passes beneath and in rear of the stack 01" covers. If the operator has stepped on the treadle, thereby causing the can to remove the cover from cover-receiving ledge i, it will be observed that the parts of the coverfeeding mechanism will return to the position shown in Fig. 7 and the cycle will be repeated. If, however, the operator has not stepped on the treadle and cover 2'3 remains on cover-receiving ledge 2|, then the efiect will be that shown in Fig. 10, in which it will be seen that earn roller 39 remains elevated out of contact with cam 48, and that cover-separating knives 39 and d remain beneath the stack so that the latter is not lowered to raceway 29. This condition will continue so long as cover 2?: remains on cover-receiving ledge 2i, and cover-feeding slide 39 will continue to traverse back and forth without feeding any covers. When cover 22 is again removed from cover-receiving ledge 2i by a raised can 24,, the previous condition will be restored and an-- other cover will be fed from the cover supply station to cover-receiving ledge 2 It is pointed out that, prior to the time when the parts occupy the position shown in Fig. 7, cover-feeding slide 36 was traveling on its re turn stroke, cam roller 99 was in engagement with high portion de of the cam, and therefore cover stack 21* was held elevated by cover-separating knives 39 and 19, and no cover was resting on raceway 29 at cover supply station 27.

Considering the operation of the device in terms of the action of cover-feeding slide 39, it will be observed that said slide makesits excursions or reciprocates back and forth at regular intervals; that, at the end of its return stroke:

of one excursion, after it has passed beneath and. in rear of cover stack 2%, it causes, by reason of the engagement of cam roller 69 with low portion 48 of cam 48 and the pull of spring 59, the coverseparating knives to be withdrawn and the coverstack to rest on the raceway; and that at the beginning of its outward stroke, on its next excursion and before it reaches the cover stack, it causes, by reason of engagement of cam roller 49 with high portion 48 of cam 48, the cover-separating knives to engage the stack above the lowermost cover and to elevate the remainder of the stack so that said slide can feed the released and separated lowermost cover to the seaming station. It will further be observed that, if a cover is present on cover-receiving ledge M at the time slide 39 reaches the end of its return stroke, detector-finger 52 will hold cam roller 49 out of contact with cam 48 and therefore the It'll cover stack will not be lowered at the end of the return stroke of slide 30.

It will be seen that the cover-feeding mechanism is self-contained and self-regulating, so to speak, and can readily be attached to an existing semi-automatic seaming machine by simply bolting the attachment to the framework of said machine, and by providing a constantly driven gear, such as 32, to operate the cover-feedin slide.

I claim:

In a cover-feeding mechanism having a cover supply station to contain a stack of covers that are to be fed, one by one, over a raceway to the cover-receiving ledge of the seaming station of a single-cycle seaming machine: a reciprocatory cover-feeding slide, traveling in the same plane when moving in either direction, to move a separated cover from the cover supply station over the raceway to the cover-receiving ledge of the seaming station of the seaming machine; means to reciprocate said cover-feeding slide to make excursions at regular intervals from a point in rear of the stack of covers to the seaming station and back again; a pair of cover-separating knives located opposite to each other at the cover supply station to simultaneously act to separate the lowermost cover from the stack of covers by engaging and elevating the remainder of the stack, and to lower the stack to the raceway by simultaneously disengaging said stack; two pivotally supported rocker-levers, one carrying one and the other carrying the other, of said cover-separating knives; a spring-pressed actuator-link located adjacent and in rear of the cover supply station and pivotally connected at its opposite ends to said rocker-levers; a cam roll carried by said actuator-link; a cam carried by the cover-feeding slide to engage the cam roll on said actuatorlink to bring the cover-separating knives into and out of engagement with said stack Of covers; a detector finger, carried by one of said rocker levers, extending to the cover-receiving ledge and constructed and arranged to overlie the cover-receivingv ledge when said cover-separating knives are disengaged from the stack of covers, said detector finger when pushed outwardly by the edge of a cover on the coverreceiving ledge to react on the actuator-link to cause the latter to move the cover-separating knives into engagement with the stack of covers and to move the cam roll out of engagement with the cam; and a spring to urge said actuatorlink in a direction to cause said cover-separating knives to disengage the stack of covers, to cause said detector finger to overlie the cover-receiving ledge and to urge said cam roll into contact with said cam.

WILLY H. DIEZEL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Cameron i June 7, 1938 

